Well-known British newspaper The Guardian published a feature on Romania’s giant haystacks-style farming, highlighting its contribution to local wildlife but also its future challenges in the face of disappearing traditions and the encroaching modern agriculture. The author of the feature, Phoebe Weston, says that “golden haystacks shaped like teardrops have been a symbol of rural life in Romania for hundreds of years,” and that generations have combed them to protect them from the elements.
The hay is important in the rural areas, being fed to livestock in the winter. As such, villagers in Romania still work together to maintain it.
“Research shows these meadows are among the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems anywhere, full of grasshoppers, butterflies and spiders, as well as more than 100 species of grasses and flowers, including grass vetchling, hedge bedstraw and field scabious,” the author says.
The article praises the practice of making the giant haystacks as a rare example of human activity enriching habitats for wildlife.
“Hundreds of species of plant, bird and insect have adapted alongside centuries of cultivating and harvesting meadows, their life cycles becoming intertwined with farming. Studies have found that Romania’s traditional hay meadows can be richer in wildlife than meadows managed as nature reserves,” Weston points out.
Nevertheless, Romania, home to some of the largest grasslands in Europe where harvesters still follow traditional methods, is increasingly using modern agriculture. The switch could see the country follow in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, where 97% of the wildflower meadows have vanished since the 1930s.
“Things are rapidly changing in Romania too: as young people leave the villages looking for work elsewhere in Europe, humans and horses are being replaced by machines and fertilizer,” leading to overnight changes in a way of life that has lasted 400 years.
The article ends decrying the loss of traditional hay meadows, despite pockets of resistance offered by small-scale farmers.
(Photo source: Foton64 | Dreamstime.com)
